04.2 - Chapter 4:17-26

CHAPTER 4 C. The Early Development of the Sinful Human Race (Continued)Genesis 4:17-26 (b) Genesis 4:17-24: The Development of the family of the Cainites

Genesis 4:17 - And Cain knew his wife and she conceived and bare Enoch, and he (Cain) was engaged in building a city and he called the name of the city after the name of his son Enoch.

Though this portion may rightly be said to sketch the development of’ the family of the Cainites, it would not be incorrect to regard it as an account of the beginnings of civilization or culture. For, strange to say, civilization did make far greater strides among those alienated from God than among those who were devoted to Him. Yet this is not very strange, if closely considered, for they, being addicted and devoted to the things of the world and not satisfied with the world’s treasures-for who can be?—they, we say, do all in their power to make an empty existence attractive by the cultivation of the natural resources of the world. Besides, the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.

First, however, the development and growth of this family as such is sketched through several generations, with such brief historical events inserted as are of moment in this history.

Cain is first disposed of. For that matter, a characteristic feature of the author of Genesis may well be noted at this point. He regularly disposes of the less relevant but necessary by taking it first and sketching it briefly. Then the heavier emphasis can be laid on what is of particular moment in the development of the kingdom of God. So here after the Cainites come the Sethites from Genesis 4:25 practically to Genesis 9:28. Then the families of Ham and Japheth are briefly disposed of, as well as that of Shem (ch. 10-11:26); to make room for that of Terah, or Abraham 11:27-25:11. Ishmael is treated briefly (Genesis 25:12-18) to prepare for Isaac 25:19-35:29. Again Esau’s development is sketched 36:1-37:1; then follows the story of Jacob at length from 37:2 to the end of the book.

Cain’s wife must have been his sister who followed him into exile; for Adam had sons and daughters according to Genesis 5:4. Nor can marriage to a sister at this early stage of the development of the human race be considered wrong or unnatural. If according to divine purpose the human race is to develop from one pair, then the marriage of brothers and sisters as well as of other close relatives will for a time be a necessity. Later on the nations may see fit to classify such unions as incestuous and seek to keep the human race from running its shoots back to the parent stem; and so they further its natural spread. But in the earlier history of mankind the union of those closely related was not abhorred. Abraham’s wife was his half-sister (Genesis 20:12); cf. also Genesis 24:4 and Genesis 28:2. On the expression "knew his wife" see Genesis 4:1. The name Enoch, Hebrew chanôkh, signifies, "dedication" and so by metonomy may come to mean "commencement" or more concretely "beginner"; K. W. Anfaenger. It appears that Cain promises himself a new beginning in life through this son; Enoch is to initiate a new start. At the time, however, when the son was born, the father was building a city, and with the pride characteristic of the children of the world sought to perpetuate his son’s name by applying it to the city.

Cain’s building of a city does not conflict with and remove his curse (Genesis 4:12) which involved inability to settle permanently anywhere. It may have been on Cain’s part a kind of titanic attempt to fly in the face of Heaven’s decree. But the very nature of the statement implies that he did not complete what he undertook; for we read "he was building," wayhi boneh, progressive, which we have rendered "he was engaged in building," to make the inceptive nature of the undertaking more prominent. The city may have been finished, but not by Cain. Others may have lived there, not he; Nothing points to an amelioration of the original divine sentence. On the participle boneh as expressing this idea of progression see K. S. 239 b. Consequently, the text correctly treats the participle as a verb with a direct object, as is indicated by the seghol; the treatment of it as a noun making him an actual builder would have necessitated the construct state of the participle and consequently a tsere. The critical objections to the idea of the building of a city at so early a date in history, fall away as soon as we remember that, of necessity, nothing more could be meant than a walled enclosure with a few houses. The primitive city need have been no more. Besides, this well accords with the accursed timorousness that marked Cain. In spite of promise and sign he never felt safe. He felt a city might afford a feeling of safety; but he was never able to complete his city. The Hebrew word for city agrees with our explanation. For ‘îr is most likely derived from the root ’ûr, "to rouse" or "to raise an alarm." Consequently, the city was the place of refuge when an alarm was raised: K. W. succinctly: Alarmplatz.

It is very interesting to note how early cities in reality appear on the scene. During the lifetime of the second generation of mortals the first one is built. Evolutionistic thinking, of course, grievously distorts the picture and tells fanciful tales about many many earlier stages through which human development had to run.

We append a double list of names of Cainites and Sethites in order to make the similarity of the names as apparent as possible. It will be observed that Enoch and Lamech appear in both. All the rest bear strange resemblances each to some one of the other group.

AdamAdam CainSeth EnochEnosh IradKenan MehujaelMahalalel MethushaelJared LamechEnoch Jabal-Jubal-Tubal CainMethuselah

Lamech

Noah Shem-Ham-Japheth.

It is quite reasonable to assume that the identity or similarity of names is traceable to the contact, more or less close, that the two branches of the human family had with one another. No one will be able definitely to say which group did the borrowing. Both may have done it in a measure. Nor does the fact that one group runs through seven generations before it branches out into three prominent characters, and the other through ten before it does the same prove these to be artificially constructed genealogies. The God of history may well have guided things according to a definite pattern of numbers even as He does in the field of botany or chemistry. Unfortunately, we cannot be very sure about the meaning of many of these names, a difficulty which is increased by the fact that these are Hebrew equivalents of the original language of the race.

If one critic remarks about this section that "it involves a series of anachronisms and is not historical," and goes so far as to claim that this is so self-evident that it "requires no proof," we regard such bold assertions unwarranted; for the truth has often been explained, but some people fail to see it. If, then, another critic praises Buttmann for having been the first to recognize that the two genealogical tables, Genesis 4:17-24 and chapter 5, are but two variant forms of one tradition concerning the genealogy of the human race, we can do no more than marvel at the unproven claims that men will make when they seek to discredit the Scriptures.

Genesis 4:18 - And to Enoch was born Irad; and Ifad begat Mehujael; and Mehijael begat Methushael; and Methushael begat Lamech. No one will ever satisfactorily explain, as far as we are able to discern, how the two variant forms of the one name crept into this verse: Mehujael and Mehijael. That the subject ’Iradh is counted as a kind of retained object with the passive is discussed K. S. 108; G. K. 121 b. Ifad may mean "townsman" (Keil). Mehujael may mean "God is the giver of life" (K. W.). Mehijael seems to mean "God is the fountain of life" (K. W.). Methushael perhaps means "man of God," the sh being a kind of relative. The meaning of "Lamech" is extremely doubtful. It seems strange to find at least three of these names compounded with the divine name ’el—God. However, that may indicate that occasionally a Cainite was devout or at least had better aspirations, or it may be traceable to the borrowing of names by the Cainites from the Sethites. Many a man has a name of the noblest meaning without even being aware of it. At least the great antiquity of the name ’el is indicated by these compounds (K. T. A. T. p. 143).

Genesis 4:19 - And Lamech took unto himself two wives; the name of the one was Adah, the name of the other Zillah. In this simple statement is. recounted the origin of bigamy. Note well that the practice originated among those who had become estranged from God. Up till this age the original purpose of God in creating one man and one wife and uniting them in marriage had apparently been understood as sanctioning only monogamous marriage. In the seventh generation from Adam comes a man in the line of the Cainites who dares to fly in the face of this divine institution. The names of these two wives, if they be at all indicative of their character, as names in these, early days often were, suggest that physical attractiveness may have been a governing motive in Lamech’s choice. For Adah means either "ornament" or "morning"; whereas Zillah may signify "shade" or "shelter." Nevertheless, the ungoverned lust of the flesh will, as usual, have played a large part in inducing the man to take a second wife. It should also be noted that the expression "take a wife" (laqach ‘ishshah) is the one that signifies "to marry." The dative of the personal pronoun lô is used as a reflexive (K. S. 28).

Genesis 4:20-22 - Adah bore Jabal. He was the ancestor of those who live in tents and have cattle. And the name of his brother was Jubal. He was the ancestor of all who play, the lyre and the pipe. Zillah on her part bore Tubal Cain, a hammerer (smith) who devised all manner of things of bronze and iron. Tubal Cain’s sister was Naamah.

Here we have the record, of the most important cultural achievements of early days. Strange to say, they are traceable to the gifted sons of the bigamist. Of these sons Adah bore two and Zillah one.

Jabal perhaps means "wanderer," a name indicative of the later nomadic habits of the man. It appears that many of the names of these early days may not originally have been given, to their bearers, but may have originated in the course of time as descriptive of the outstanding characteristic of the person. The notable thing about Jabal is that he hit upon and developed the idea of having a movable domicile, a tent, to use while travelling about with his flocks in search of pasturage. This new departure, of course, describes nomadism. The noun ’abh, "father," is used to describe him as the "originator" of the idea or as the "ancestor" of all such-one of the many and varied uses of the word ’abh. A still more elastic use is found when miqueh, "cattle" (more than tso’n, including even camels and asses Exodus 9:3) is attached, thus: "father of cattle." This may also be explained by the figure zeugma, where one verb takes two objects, the second of which ought more properly to be joined to a second verb. The participle yoshebh is used collectively and is used with the accusative, as in our English phrase, "inhabiting a tent"; cf. G. K. 117 bb.

"Jubal" may mean "sound" (Hall—K. W.) because the man originated sweet sounds. He had inventive genius along another less practical line. He was the originator (’abh) of all who "catch" (tophes) the strings of the "lyre and pipe." Kinnôr is more of a zither than a harp; therefore we render the word lyre, because only as lyres developed did harps result. The ’ûghabh was by far not as elaborate as an "organ" (A. V.) but merely a combination of a few reed pipes. However primitive they may have been, these two instruments laid the foundation of musical development; for both stringed instruments and wind instruments owe their origin to this invention.

(Genesis 4:22) Zillah’s son was an inventive genius too. "She too" (gam hî’) or, as we translated above, "on her part," shared in producing famous men. Her son’s name, "Tubal Cain," is sometimes explained as meaning "Tubal the smith," or again Eisenspan von Schmiederei (K. W.), "the splinter of iron resulting from pounding the iron." The words that follow are variously translated: either as above, or as "the hammerer of every cutting device of bronze and iron." This latter construction puts four successive words in the construct relation to one another—rather unusual. Therefore we take kol in the sense of "all kinds of things" and construe it as the object of choresh and make "bronze and iron" accusative of material. In both cases the meaning is much the same, with this major difference: the one lets the man devise only cutting instruments, the other, all kinds of instruments and utensils. Observe, though, that bronze precedes iron.

Na’amah’s name means "pleasant." This is significant. This family knew by various devices to make life pleasant for itself. Though these inventions bring a kind of taint with them, being originated by the godless, yet two things must be remembered. Music, for example, carries many elements in itself that can distract the soul unduly; so can other worldly productions unduly absorb the soul. On the other hand, all such achievements may be taken in hand and sanctified by injecting in them a spirit from on high. Such is again especially the case with music, which has thus been taken in hand and has experienced its noblest development in sanctified use.

Genesis 4:23-24 - And Lamech said unto his wives: Adah and Zillah, hear my voice, Ye wives of Lamech, give ear unto my speech. I slay a man for wounding me And a youth for giving me a stripe. For, if Cain is to be avenged sevenfold Then Lamech seventy-seven fold. This portion caused commentators in days of old untold difficulties. Jamieson reports that Origen devoted two whole books of his Genesis commentary to these verses, and finally rendered the verdict that they were inexplicable. Other commentators were misled by the Jewish fable of the accidental slaying by Lamech of old Cain and a youth who guided him through the forest, and so for a long while they went off on a false scent.

Yet, on the whole, the present-day approach, which classifies this as’ "Lamech’s Sword Song," is correct. Incidentally, here is the first piece of poetry of which we have a record, not so noble an origin, it is true, but under such circumstances did it take its rise. We claim that approach, then, to be correct which pictures Lamech as handling one of the weapons just manufactured by his son Tubal Cain and as sensing the possibilities that lie in possessing such a weapon. For the waw conversive which binds the opening wayy’omer to the preceding section, bears just this connotation; as a result of his son’s invention of weapons, Lamech, seeing what possibilities lay in such weapons, "said." This poem does not hang suspended on thin air. That it is a poem is apparent from the very manifest parallelism of the members; the characteristic feature, at least, of Hebrew poetry. From one point of view, of course, this poem is a glorification of the sword. But penetrating deeper into its character, we find it to be a glorification of the spirit of personal revenge. So the poem has an unholy savour and reflects admirably the spirit of those who have grown estranged from God and His Word. So all human culture and the achievement of civilization degenerate apart from God.

It need not surprise us that this word was spoken to Lamech’s wives. They are an audience that needs must listen, and boasting is most safely done at home before their ears. Whether Lamech really was the dangerous fellow that his words make him out to be we have no means of knowing. The elevated tone of the poem is made apparent by the sonorous and dignified double address. "Adah and Zillah" and "ye wives of Lamech." Again, the poetic character of the piece is reflected in the use of a poetic shortened form for the imperative, shema’an (G. K. 46 f), as well as by a term used largely in poetic diction, ’imrah, "utterance, speech." The perfect tenses that follow have been the source of much difficulty. Some, taking them as simple historical perfects, read them as a record of a deed done. But in that event it strikes us as most peculiar that Lamech should have slain both a man and a young man. Murderers very rarely proceed to wholesale slaughter, all the more not when, as in Lamech’s case, they have reason to recall what befell a notorious ancestor of theirs when he committed murder. Then, since apparently the preceding verses had just recorded an invention, the next and more natural step in the narrative would be to canvass the possibilities latent in the invention. So it would be far more plausible to picture Lamech as handling a newly forged sword or swinging it boldly about his head and uttering this sonorous bit of poetry as he does so. In this event, the perfects would have to be regarded as expressing complete assurance, or definite certainty, or promise. Some compare Genesis 1:29 and Genesis 4:14a. They are, of course, then analogous to prophetic perfects and refer definitely to the future. What Lamech threatens is: if any man wounds me, or if any young man bruises me, I shall kill the offender. "Man" and "young man" constitutes a more picturesque way of saying: "anyone." "Wound" (pits’i, a cut wound, introduced by le of norm) and "bruise" (chabburathi, a stripe caused by a blow) include all forms of hurt, the more grievous and the less grievous. Consequently, the threat covers every case where a painful wrong is inflicted, no matter who does it. Lamech tries to give his threat a veneer of just retribution by making the distinction: for a real wound, I shall take a man’s life; for a bruise, the life of a youth. Yéledh here hardly means "child," as its first meaning might lead us to suppose. The suffix on "wound" and "stripe" is called by Strack the suffix expressing the eventual. Not: the "wound," etc., that I have received, but: the wound I may receive. We have sought to indicate this by: "for wounding me," etc.

Now comes the climax of this ungodly song of hate. The "for" introducing it introduces as reason not what immediately follows but "the second part of the sentence." Lamech remembers the sentence and the divine promise to his ancestor. On this he builds up. If God will see to it that the one who harms Cain will have a sevenfold measure of punishment, Lamech, not needing or even despising God’s avenging justice, will provide for himself by the strength of his own arm, re-enforced by his son’s weapon, a far more heavy punishment than God would have allowed-seventy-seven fold. The arrogance and presumption are unbelievable. The spirit of self-sufficiency here expressing itself overleaps all bounds. This, then, coupled with its hate and revengefulness, makes it one of the most ungodly pieces ever written. Such are the achievements of human culture divorced from God, "My fist shall do more for me than God’s vengeance for Cain," Strack paraphrases. An allusion, by way of contrast to this wicked utterance, apparently lies in (Matthew 18:21), where such a high measure of forgiveness, "seventy and seven," is laid upon Christ’s followers. They are not only to be free of the spirit of retaliation but are to possess instead a rare spirit of forgiveness.

(c) An account of the Development of the Family of the Godly (Genesis 4:25-26)

Without lengthy introduction, without the use of explanatory phrases, the writer sets another group that was developing in those days into sharp contrast with the development of the group just described. This makes for very effective writing, Such contrasts by their very sharpness give evidence of comsummate literary skill. The critics, somehow, cannot understand such skill and see merely what they claim to be evidence of a different document. So they speak with great erudition on a subject about which no man knows anything. Incidentally, they hardly notice that the two branches of mankind are as widely different from one another as they possibly can be. Simplicity of life and devotedness to their God characterize this second group, the Sethites.

Genesis 4:25 - And Adam again knew his wife and she begat a son and called his name Sheth, for God hath set for me other seed in place of Abel; for Cain slew him. When the expression is a bit more detailed, there is not always a special significance attached to it. Here we are hardly justified in supposing that the author is trying to say that sexual communion was interrupted for a time because of Abel’s death but was now again resumed. The fact is a son was born. How thoroughly different the spirit of this family is from that which we have just studied appears from the fact that in the birth of their children already these parents see the gracious hand of God. This son is "set" (shah) by God in place of Abel. The mother wishes this fact to be continually in evidence and so gives her son a name indicative of this fact: sheth, A. V.: "Seth." The play on words is: thus made apparent in English. Since "set in place of" means "to substitute" we may adequately interpret the name Seth to mean "substitute," Ersatzmann (K. W.). Procksch, without good reason, questions the propriety of this very obvious interpretation. The explanatory remark "for Cain slew him" is not inserted by Moses as his own explanation, the fact being too evident to require explanation. But as a word of Eve it definitely connects the two acts and states that God meant Seth to be a substitute for the slain Abel; or, because Cain slew the one, God gave the other —an explanation which amounts to the same thing as the first. In this verse we have the first undoubtedly clear use of ’adham as a proper noun. Apparently, from this point onward, Adam is under consideration as an individual more than as the first "man," as his name signifies (K. S. 295 b). Besides, it may be well to append a list of the instances where the father or the mother give the names to their children and so to show the futility of the contention that the matriarchate prevailed of old according to the Scriptures. The mother gives the name in Genesis 19:37 f.; Genesis 29:32-35; Genesis 30:6, Genesis 30:8, Genesis 30:11, Genesis 30:13, Genesis 30:18, Genesis 30:20-24; Genesis 35:18; Genesis 38:4 f. The father gives the name in Genesis 4:26; Genesis 5:29; Genesis 16:15; Genesis 21:3; Genesis 38:3; Genesis 41:51f. The impersonal subject "one" is found in Genesis 25:25 f.; Genesis 38:29 f. in the matter of giving names.

Genesis 4:26 - Also unto Sheth there was a son born, and he called his name Enosh. At that time a beginning was made of calling upon the name of the Lord. For the present there is no need of tracing this family through many generations. The spirit that animates becomes evident at once. When Sheth, or Seth, who has the godly spirit of Adam begets a son, he gives to him the name ’enôsh, a word which we still believe bears the basic meaning of "frailty." For though the lexicographers unanimously (Buhl, B D B, K. W.) derive it from a root "to be intimate with" in the sense of social familiarity, we yet feel that that derivation fails to do justice to those instances of the use of ’enôsh as a common noun, where it is used in contrast with God, as B D B lists these passages. In fact, this gets to be so distinctive a use of the term that it stands out. Cf. especially in Job the passages: (Job 4:17; Job 7:17; Job 9:2; Job 10:4-5; Job 15:14; Job 25:4; Job 33:12). Other significant instances are (2 Chronicles 14:11); (Psalms 8:5; Psalms 9:20; Psalms 90:3; Psalms 103:15) etc. Since this third root ’anash, according to Arabic parallels, is quite possible, we strongly cast our vote for this meaning: ‘enôsh-the "frail one," "the mortal." Seth was so impressed with the weakness of mortals that he gave his son a name indicative of this truth. Such a name, however, does not reflect pessimism or discouragement. It is expressive of truth, deep unvarnished truth. But the very next statement now goes on to show what this family did when their own frailty became clearly apparent to them: they turned all the more eagerly to their God and sought him, making a regular and public practice of it in worship. For by common consent the lexicons interpret the expression qara’ beshem yahweh to mean: to "use the name of Yahweh in worship" (B D B). The preposition be before Yahweh expresses a kind of means: to call out by the use of the name. K. S. makes it a Beth of interest (212 c). The adverb ’az, "at that time," distinctly binds such public worship back to the time when Seth called his son Enosh. The "name" here, as usual, means the whole truth that God had revealed about Himself. Since the name "Yahweh" is attached to "name," this means that from days of old God was known in the capacity of Yahweh, or in the character of Yahweh, whether that word as such was known at this early date or not. The thing that the name stood for was known. Men do not first in the age of Abraham or Moses begin to comprehend God’s faithfulness, unchangeableness, and mercy. Since this calling out by the use of the’ name definitely implies public worship, we have here the first record of regular public worship, Private worship is presupposed as preceding. The great importance of public worship, both as a matter of personal necessity as well as a matter of public confession, is beautifully set forth by this brief record. This act bears eloquent testimony to the courage, of this group, who wanted to be known as such whose hope was placed only in Yahweh. It is not enough to say that "Yahweh’s religion began with Enoch." It began with Adam and developed into regular public worship in three generations.

HOMILETICAL SUGGESTIONS The first fifteen verses of this chapter may be used as a unit. In that event they may be treated under the head of "the First Murder," or "the Rapid Development of Sin," or even "the Horrible Possibilities Latent in Sin." Genesis 4:9-15 lend themselves to the treatment of the subject of "Impenitence" or "the Despair of the Impenitent." The second half of the chapter offers a topic that is always helpful and perhaps more timely now than ever. In Genesis 4:16-24 one may find "the Beginnings of Civilization." Here, of course, a certain caution is in order. Though it was the Cainite group that devised these beginnings, and though this was a typical instance of worldly-mindedness, yet over against these undeniable facts it should be clearly stated that attempts made by godly men to "subdue" the world and the created things in it are in conformity with God’s original purpose. (Genesis 1:28). If worldly minded men make inventions and discoveries because they know no higher goal, godly men should make endeavours along the same line in order to-fulfil their God-given destiny and to please their Father in heaven. If the entire section Genesis 4:16-26 is treated, in some way the contrast between the spirit of the world and the spirit of God’s children should be the dominant thought.